The sentencing date for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui - the
brutally oppressed Muslim political prisoner
being held in maximum security confinement in New York
City – has been changed again...this time to September 23,
2010. (Aafia has had four sentencing dates since her
unjust conviction earlier this year.)

One can only wonder why the sentencing of this
political prisoner is being strung out in this manner.
Has the court received a request from another
government agency to bide time for some political end?
Or is it being done in an attempt to confuse and
diminish public support for this oppressed Muslim
woman?

Whatever the motive, it leaves Aafia in the custody of
jailors (in New York City) who have systematically
engaged in such gross violations of her human rights,
and to such a degree, that it has added significantly
to the psychic damage already suffered from five years
of secret and torturous imprisonment overseas!

Again, as in the past, we raise the question: WHAT ARE
MUSLIMS IN AMERICA (and other peoples of
good will) GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?!

We are not calling for violent insurrections in the
street. We are simply calling for committed Muslims in
America (and other concerned citizens) to collectively
raise their voices in strong and consistent public
protest. As my friend Khurram (a practicing attorney)
noted towards the end of a panel discussion at the
ICNA-MAS Convention in May of this year, “If the
Muslim community doesn’t respond to the plight of
Aafia Siddiqui,
Muslim men (similarly situated) don’t stand a chance
of getting the support they need.”

How right he is! And speaking of ICNA-MAS (and the
host of other alphabet soup organizations we have in
America), it is shameful, absolutely SHAMEFUL, that
there has been such silence surrounding this case from
some of the most prominent individuals and
organizations in the Muslim-American community!

I will avoid citing the namesof
individuals, to avoid the distraction of
being accused of becoming too personal, but I will
cite the names of some of the organizations (in
alphabetical order):

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)

Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)

Muslim Alliance in North America
(MANA)

Muslim
American Society
(MAS) & MAS Freedom Foundation

Muslim
Public Affairs Council
(MPAC)

And the ever growing number of smaller and mid-sized
organizations that are springing up throughout
America…what are we collectively doing?
Nothing!

One of the most disappointing for me has been
ICNA.
TheIslamic Circle of North
America – a Pakistani American
led organization - is headquarted (and has a strong
numerical presence) in New York City. Aafia
Siddiqui is a Pakistani national being held in New
York City; and yet, the organization that should have
taken a muscular lead in advocating for her release
has done NOTHING!

The American-born
Muslim youth connected with the ICNA
organization have done NOTHING! The active (and
otherwise progressive) Muslim women
who are connected to the ICNA organization have done
NOTHING! Why? For fear of offending the U.S.
government – the Pakistani government – or both?
Speaking personally, I will never be able to watch
another one of ICNA’s professionally made promotional
videos (touting its humanitarian relief efforts in
different parts of the world) the same way again! Not
after this shameful and painfully public capitulation
to political expediency.

And I feel similarly about the
Council on American-Islamic Relations.
With its considerable size and resources, and the very
prominent face it enjoys within America’s
socio-political construct, CAIR’s penchant for
embracing the easily winnable (light-weight, “civil
rights” –oriented) cases, while avoiding
like the plague the truly difficult cases that
carry long-term implications for Muslims (here and
abroad), has caused me to lose a lot of respect for
this organization and its front-line decision makers.

I also feel a special disappointment in MANA – an
indigenous led organization of enormous potential.
Given our historical and sociological experience,
African-Americans (at least those of us still
connected to our
historical memory) should feel a special
empathy for any human being suffering under the
yoke of oppression.

And to my Muslim brethren in NYC who demonstrated a
penchant in the past for speaking truth to power in a
number of high profile, non-Muslim led cases, I have
the following question: Do you need the Rev. Al
Sharpton to bless an advocacy effort for your
sister-in-Islam, Aafia Siddiqui?